


Never One without the Other

by Keeper_Amy



Series: Back to Life [3]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Destroy Ending, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, No Shepard Without Vakarian, Post-Canon, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:40:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22864960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keeper_Amy/pseuds/Keeper_Amy
Summary: Shepard wakes up after destroying the Reapers but her Omni-Tool doesn't work, thus she can't understand Garrus
Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian, Shepard/Garrus Vakarian
Series: Back to Life [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1633594
Kudos: 28





	Never One without the Other

Pain. All over her body. Her chest felt so heavy, she almost couldn't breath. Warm liqueur was running down her forehead and down her ears. Blood. Of course. Everything Shepard could hear was a loud beeping noise in her head just as if a bomb exploded next to her. Every muscle on her body refused to move. All Jane could do was breath with her eyes closed. Seconds, minutes, hours or maybe days passed while she was lying on the hard, cold stone trying her best not to give up. She had a promise to keep – an order to follow : “Come back alive.”

_You're the light, you're the night_  
_You're the color of my blood_

Garrus. How she missed him. All she wanted was for him to be safe, to be alive. So many people fell on their way to victory... Tears started to crawl down her cheeks. There was nothing she could do to hold them back, Shepard had no control over her body. Hell, she didn't even know how she survived the Crucible, the fall down to earth and the crash. Her suite was already damaged pretty badly because of the Reaper which was blocking her way to the beam up to the Citadel.

Shepard was never a religious woman. How could she? There were no miracles in this war filled world. But now, after coming back from the dead twice, she kind of believed there was something that helped her. Whatever it was, she was graceful for her life. There was no was she will throw it away like that.

  
_You're the cure, you're the pain_  
_You're the only thing I wanna touch_  
_Never knew that it could mean so much, so much_

Maybe it was the love of her life? Maybe it pushed her to her limits and beyond. With Garrus on her side, she wasn't allowed to give up just like that. She had a reason to fight for. Sure, she had to safe the world. But... Now that she thinks about it... She did it all for him. So he could see the sun rise again. That was the only thing which passed her thoughts while choosing to destroy the Reaper. His smile, his silly jokes, his... everything. Garrus had to live, even if it meant for her to die.

  
  
_Follow me through the dark_  
_Let me take you past our satellites_  
_You can see the world you brought to life, to life_

Suddenly she could hear something from right above her. Voices? Footsteps? Both! There were people up there. Shepard forced her to open her eyes. Dirt was everywhere in the air, hurting her already sore eyes. She felt like dying all over again. There was no light at all in her surroundings. The Commander was stuck under rubble and debris. A stone laid on her chest and feet. That's why she couldn't move. Some broken ribs and her right leg was literally crashed. No way this could be fixed anymore. Her life as a soldier ended here. Commander Shepard died in the Citadel.

Slowly the steps were getting more silent. _No! Please no!_

 _Help! Help!_ She tried to cry out in vain. _Help.... Don't go..._

Again, she was stuck for what felt like hours down there. Breathing started to get even more difficult. The oxygen was nearly gone. Her vision already started to blur. Shepard knew the feeling of suffocation to damn well. She is not going to die like this again! With all her strength she tried to hit the wall beside her. All she needed was a small opening. Maybe something form above would fall of and fresh air could enter. The chances of surviving were really low. Shepard wasn't even thinking she could be killed by the ceiling crashing down on her. If she wouldn't get air in the next hour, she would die anyway. So why even bother?

One hit. Nothing.

Second. Nothing.  
Thrid. Still nothing. Damn it! Why?

Again and again she hit. All her energy was transfer to her right arm. Hit after hit she got even more angrier. How embarrassing. Dying under the ground...

“I need some help over here! I can hear something!” called a female, muffled voice right from above. Suddenly the grund started to shake and the big boulder above Shepard glowed in a light violet color. Biotics. Someone must have heard her knocking. Not long after, light and air floded the small chamber Shepard was locked in. Two faces appeared right before her. One human Woman she didn't know and once Asari she knew to well. Liara. She must have saved her there. She spoke something but Shepard couldn't hear her very well. Shortly after, everything went black.

  
  
_Fading in, fading out_  
_On the edge of paradise_  
_Every inch of your skin is a Holy Grail I've got to find_  
_Only you can set my heart on fire, on fire_  
  


The next time she woke up, Shepard was in an hospital bed. A lot of tubes were connected to her body, a mask sat on her mouht and nose and a soft blanked laid over her aching bottom. The room was decorated in colors designed to be restful but come off as akin to a decorators choices for a funeral home. Cold, institutional tile floor. One big window that looks out on a once beautiful landscape, which was a lot of chaos right now. It was earth for sure, but it looked worse than on the battlefield. The building next to the – what Shepard assumed to be – Hospital was just a pile of rubble. Big parts of Reapers and some Ships laid on the vast and half empty city ground. 

Entry to both hospital room and private bath is a large heavy door engineered to open quietly and won't slam, yet it looked strong enough to keep a Krogan outside. Bed somewhat lumpy with padding and sheets that are trying to mask the thick plastic covering the mattress. Sheets in sterile white. Phone attached to the bed with a cord – that was something new to the Commander. The last time she had seen something like this was at museum. Really old Tech, but what was she expecting? It's probably the only think working right now. There were also call button also attached to the bed. Several different lighting options - fluorescent for the most part -, light for the whole room, light for just the entryway, light for just the bed, bedside light. This room never got completely dark. A little table was attached to the underside of the bed that can be moved around the bed, to keep everything handy. 

Of course you can't forget the IV pole with a digital monitoring system that tends to beep every time you move. 

There was one more important thing. To her right, holding her hand, sat a sleeping Turian. His armor was partly broken, it had scratches everywhere and a lot of dried dirt stained it. He looked so much older at this moment. He didn't get much sleep in the last few days. Or maybe even moths. Damn... How long was she asleep anyway? How much time has passed since the Reaper were destroyed? 

  
_I'll let you set the pace_  
_'Cause I'm not thinking straight_  
_My head's spinning around, I can't see clear no more_  
_What are you waiting for?_  
  


Shepard could barely move, yet she focused so hard to turn her head to the side, so she could see Garrus even better. One single hot tear run down her cheek. He was alive and so was she. God. They made it. For her part, maybe not in one piece – she would need an exoskeleton to ever walk again – but they made it and that was all that mattered. Painfully and slowly she closed her hand, so she could hold his hand. All the monitors went bright and the beeping noise went from a steaty one beep ever 10 sec to a hectic one beep per sec.

Garrus woke up abruptly, shaking his head and eyes widened in shock. Without thinking he looked over the monitors, as if he was trying for figure them out. He didn't even notice that Shepard was awake. He tried to stand up, but as his hand met resistance for the first time ever he looked down.

“Shepard....” his voice was different. Now with the missing overlay of the Omni-Tool-Translator. Shit. Of course the translators won't work, how could she even forget this?

“Ga...rrus.” She spoke with a raspy and broken voice.

“You ~~~~~ ~~~ alive!” he called out, his mandibles widened into a smile as he bend down over her and put his forhead against her in an really soft act of love. On and on he talked to her. Many of words she could not understand. Why didn't she learn Turian when she had the time to? All she knew were the basics and some worlds he learned her.

More tears run down her cheeks. Softly he kissed them away. “Ga-Garrus...” She cried. Suddely she felt like home. She could let go of all her pain, fear and guilt. She finally was allowed to cry. “ I-I can't... u-understand you.” she said in her native language between sobs.

He understood. Well, he couldn't understand to be honest. That's when he noticed the language barrier. In the first moment he was just so happy to see her, he didn't even think about it. For him it was normal to just talk to her, like they always did.

Suddenly he looked so sad. He was devastated. His smile disappeared within seconds. Jane knew what to do. “I love you...” she whispered in Turian.

Garrus smiled “I love you too.” he answered in English. Somehow they will have to figure out how to talk to each other until the translators work good enough for them to use. But they can do it. Because there is no Shepard without Vakarian. There will never be.  
  
_I'll let you set the pace_  
_'Cause I'm not thinking straight_  
_My head's spinning around, I can't see clear no more_  
_What are you waiting for?_

Garrus just sat beside her as Human and Salarian doctors were working their best to keep her alive with the little they could do. But it was enough. Love allowed her to overcome her boundaries, to stay alive and she will fight as long as he is there to hold her hand. And soon enough she will be able to leave this room, see all of her squad mates, maybe buy a house and start a family like they talked about before Shepard “suicided” into the Citadel.

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on Instagram for Art related to my Fanfics and fun   
> @Bravepuppy_Art


End file.
